Dirt biking sessions, sneaky s’more binges and snuggling around the bonfire – it was a family affair on the set of Nick Carter and Jimmie Allen’s Las Vegas music video shoot for their new single, “Easy”. The singers’ adorable children made their music video debuts in the clip, filmed in the Nevada desert.
To celebrate the release, Carter and Allen exclusively shared behind-the-scenes photos they took on-set with ET Canada. Directed by Danny Roew, who also helmed Carter’s 2016 flick Dead 7, the video features Carter’s wife Lauren, 5-year-old son Odin, 2-year-old daughter Saoirse and 11-month-old daughter Pearl, along with Allen’s wife, Alexis Gale, and 2-year-old daughter Naomi.
The kids had a blast on set, with Carter revealing that Saoirse, who shares her dad’s love for music, even became hooked on a new hobby.
“It was the first time she rode a dirt bike and she just didn’t want to get off,” Carter, 42, says. “She was riding for four hours straight and every time we tried to peel her off the bike, she’d start crying. Her mom’s like, ‘We’re going muddying!’ which I guess is dirt biking terminology. I’m not into dirt biking as much as Lauren and her dad, but it was really funny to see.”
Pearl meanwhile stayed warm in a cozy leopard-print outfit, while Odin settled in by the bonfire, cheekily swiping chocolate and marshmallows when no one was looking.
“Odin, the little sugar monster, ate all the marshmallows and s’mores we had, so by the time we had to put him down for bed, he was crazy. He had lost it!” Carter laughs. “He’d had way too much sugar and we didn’t even know.”
While Carter says Lauren prefers avoiding the limelight and was hesitant about appearing in the video, he promptly convinced her.
“I was like, ‘The kids are only going to be this age one time and I want to do something special to time capsule that,’” says Carter, who also had a family friend’s son, Atticus, join the shoot. “I want them to have something they can look back on and go, ‘They dedicated this song and video to us,’ because ultimately that’s what the song is – a dedication to my babies and wife.”
“It turned out to be something even bigger with Jimmie Allen involved,” Carter continued. “Jimmie and I share a lot of similarities and we’ve became great friends, so it’s cool to have something we can dedicate to our families.”
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In the video, Allen and Alexis share a kiss around the bonfire while hanging with Naomi. The couple also have a five-month-old daughter, Zara, and Allen’s dad to 7-year-old son, Aadyn, from a previous relationship. Allen and Carter bonded further over fatherhood during the shoot.
“We spent hours sitting there while my director was setting up, just talking about music and family,” Carter says. “He’s one off the most down-to-earth people I’ve ever met, so we had a lot of fun.”
“When he was doing Dancing with the Stars, his wife was about to have their baby and he was calling me all the time asking my advice about what he should do on the show because I had previously done it,” adds Carter, about how the pair became close. “I said, ‘It’s all about wearing your heart on your sleeve and letting the dance tell the story for you when it comes to your life and what you’re going through at that moment.’”
As for whether his children have a deeper understanding of his job after witnessing him in action on-set, Carter says they’re still clueless about his fame. “They don’t get it right now and that’s fine with me because I’d rather them just enjoy being kids,” he says. “But when Saoirse watches the video, she’s like, ‘Again! I wanna see it again!’ which is cute.”
The trio might soon get greater insight into their famous father’s professional world when Carter takes the stage in Las Vegas, where the family live, for a special engagement marking the Backstreet Boys recommencing their DNA World Tour. The boy band halted their worldwide trek when COVID-19 hit in 2020 and are now in rehearsals to complete the tour, beginning with four shows at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace on April 8, 9, 15 and 16.
“It’s very surreal,” Carter tells us during a break from rehearsals with bandmates AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough and Brian Littrell. “When you’ve been off for so long, you’re a little trepidatious, thinking, ‘Is this actually really happening?’ We’re beyond excited.”
“And with the state of the world right now, with the pandemic and everything else going on, entertainment is so important,” he continues. “It’s about embracing our job – to go out there and take people’s minds off of the outside world. I look forward to giving people two hours of peace and serenity.”
The tour, which features fan favourites from the group’s 2019 DNA album plus old favourites from the group’s Millennium era, will hit Canada from July. As for which members are having the hardest time perfecting their dance moves after two years off the road, Carter laughs “not me!”, adding that his 2015 DWTS stint has ensured he’s acing it.
“AJ and I had this conversation the day before yesterday and I was saying how after DWTS, nothing’s hard with rehearsing because on that show you rehearse two songs in a week or if you make it far enough, three songs in 24 hours. I chuckled to AJ, ‘Isn’t it funny how you feel super-confident and just jump right back into it? Not so much for the other guys!’”
